BellaOnline Forums Career Nonfiction Writing Are you satisfied with your writing life?

I recommend www.lulu.com as a publisher when you think you have a 'final' product. They help you through the process for free, have a helpful forum area, and you get to hold your work in your hand with bookcovers and now even dustjackets for a really nominal fee.
A 112 page book, perfect bound (softcover) or coilbound (I do cookbooks) with no color photo or artwork inside pages (your covers can be as colorful as you want) will cost you under 7 (seven) dollars US. You pay postage to yourself.
You can buy ISBN's for your work thru' Lulu and get Amazon and Barnes and Noble to buy and resell them. Lulu has press kits and other things to help promote your book. AND you can sell your work as an Ebook at no extra charge.
I was glad I found Lulu two years ago. I have two books for sale thru' them and am working on two more and a revision of one when I have any time at all.
Getting your hardwork into your hands is sort of like being handed your new baby; very, very fulfilling!

That's interesting...do you have your books listed on Amazon and Barnes and Noble? How does this work?

My boyfriend is writing his first novel, and I want to be able to help him take it to the next step when he's done.

S0, I've been reading all your posts, and have to chime in here. I also have aims to "be a writer" and do consider myself a writer. My biggest challenge here is making money from my writing. Any tips on that?

I know self publishing (such as through lulu.com) can work, but it is difficult to promote and sell that way. For people who do public speaking or other work where they have built in audiences, this is a relaistic optoin, but what about those of us who see a limited number of people in our daily lives?

Any tips on places to begin *selling* articles/reviews/etc?

Articles and books can be hard to sell, which is why I sometimes feel frustrated. I would LOVE to have a regular column in a paper or magazine (wouldn't we all?).

There are hundreds of writing sites that do provide encouragement: Writer's World, Writer's Weekly, Writers on the Rise. They're all good in their own way. My biggest challenge is finding paying markets -- there's over 19,000 magazines in the US alone -- how do you access them? (besides books like Writer's Market)

I've been freelancing for about 5 years also and have had a variety of jobs and projects in that time. I love it because it's always changing-even though the monetary rewards also kind of rise and fall.

I've found lots of writing projects on Craig's List too.

I spent over 2 years with a very wellpaying job editing an online news site. It was easy and I got kiind of spoiled. Since it went under last Nov, I've been focusing on getting assignments, working on my own website and pulling out my novel which has been sitting on the back burner.

You just need to keep focusing on what you want to achieve and believe that it will come. The most important thing sounds very trite but you need to be happy with what you are doing and find it fulfilling. The happier and more passionate you are about your writing, the more success will chase after you.

Joan

Stephanie, no, I haven't put out the money for the ISBN's YET; I want to be SURE that everything is right and set up on the page the way I want it.
Since I do cookbooks, I started out in a 6x9" format. Lulu has recently added a square book format that was what I originally wanted for one of my books. Finding the time to re-format (again!) has been difficult, since I started working again on an on-call schedule.
When your boyfriend is ready, Lulu can get a book into his hand pretty quick. He can see what it would look like and show it to others. To self-promote, you need a couple of books to send to each reviewer, so its a fairly inexpensive way to do this.
Have him sign up at Lulu and check out the writer's forums for information about writing, publishing, promotion and all the other things you probably haven't even thought of yet. Lulu will walk you through it all.
Pass along my wishes of success on his novel (I wish I had his talent). Hope to see it in print soon.

How to find markets? What do you know a lot about (health, weight, mind & body, biology)? Writer's Market is a great start for narrowing the field, now pick up a magazine that fits your expertise, ask for writer's guidelines (either online or through contact info on masthead) and study the publication to come up with a creative, informed article idea that might strike the editor's fancy.

Now send a professionally-worded query. Wait for reply. If you've followed the right steps, you will find a market for your piece (just don't fall apart if it doesn't happen the first go-round). Now, write the article. Cash the check.

Now do it all over again. That's how you make money writing! The key is, don't just talk about it, do it. And do it again... and again. I have a regular "web review" column for a regional parenting publication and am on hiatus from a travel with dogs column for a pet-friendly publication in addition to other markets I contribute to regularly as a freelancer. My advice -- be patient, be persistent, be professional and success will come your way!

Cheers,
Megan

I know your post wasn't directed toward me, but it inspired me all the same. Thanks for the inspiration and motivation!
Marie

I'm actually a Content Producer for Associated Content, as well. I've submitted a handful of articles about various subjects, the latest one about the NYC Steam Pipe explosion, and I've made a significant amount of money from their performance bonus.

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Hi BioAlegra, you can definitely try Associated Content. The Content Producers there have gained a lot of exposure from publishing on AC - including people who do not have a lot of experience writing.

And as for making money, they have uncapped performance bonuses and even pay a small upfront payment for certain content.

And if you're going to try it out..
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